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JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) — The Humane Society is once again asking for donations of any amount to help animals that are in need. This year’s Pennies 4 Paws began on Sunday, with a goal of collecting 2 million pennies before the end of the event.
Staff at the humane society, like director of fundraising and communications Brian Papalia, are emphasizing the importance of every single cent that is donated to the shelter.
“I’m the one that handles all of the pennies that are donated, and I do like to really stress the idea that ‘Pennies 4 Paws’ is a cute name but in the case of the change, you think you might not be making that much of a difference but one day I took almost $4,000 in change at one time into their change machine,” Papalia said. “As the shelter, the Chautauqua County Humane Society, we don’t receive funding from the government or anything like that. We get our money that helps the animals get to their homes, comes from our community.”
There are a few ways those able to help can donate, whether it be through a donation box labeled with the ‘Pennies 4 Paws’ logo, donating in person, or online.
We’re really excited because coming up on Valentine’s Day, just after the campaign kicks off, we’re going to have a ‘Match Day’. We have a couple of donors who have stepped up and provided match money, so anyone who donates online on that day, their money will be matched,” Papalia explained.
Donations from the public are the reason so many pets are able to find their forever homes.
“We actually had one of our long-term, a dog, named Tilda Dayigohome, had been with us since July 21st of 2021 and she was just super picky about who her adopted family was going to be and we had a couple that came in everyday for about a month. It started out with them handing her treats to her falling in love with them, to her going home,” Papalia said. “That’s what the Pennies 4 Paws donations are supporting, stories like that.”
The Pennies 4 Paws campaign is running from February 12th all the way through April 30th. To learn more about how you can help or to make a virtual donation, you can visit the Humane Society’s website chqhumane.org.
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